Device having conductive material disposed in a cavity formed in an isolation oxide disposed in a trench

ABSTRACT

Devices, such as transistors, having vertical junction edges. More specifically, shallow trenches are formed in a substrate and filled with an isolation oxide. Cavities are formed in the isolation oxide and filled with a conductive material, such a doped polysilicon. Doped regions may be formed in the substrate directly adjacent the conductive material to form vertical junctions between the polysilicon and the exposed substrate at the trench sidewalls.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/751,141, which was filed on Dec. 31, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No.7,230,312.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This section is intended to introduce the reader to aspects of the artthat may be related to various aspects of the present invention, whichare described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to behelpful in providing the reader with background information tofacilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the presentinvention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statementsare to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

The increased speed and capability of computers has had an enormousimpact on our society. The Internet, advanced software applications,speed recognition, advances and telecommunications and the many otherhigh speed applications are made feasible only because the performanceof silicon-based integrated circuit devices has increased over time. Ascan be appreciated, faster performance is generally desirable.

Current integrated circuit devices, such as metal oxide semiconductor(MOS) transistors, are limited by constraints inherent in existingsilicon technology. For decades, scientists have been searching for waysto enhance existing silicon technology to speed computer performance. Ascan be appreciated, any medium that can conduct electricity has somedegree of capacitance associated therewith. Technically, a MOStransistor is regarded as a capacitive circuit. This implies that theMOS circuit must completely charge to full capacitance to activate itsswitching capability. The process of discharging and recharging thetransistor requires a relatively long amount of time when compared tothe time it requires to actually switch the voltage state of thetransistor's metal layer. The “junction capacitance” of a transistorgenerally refers to the charge-storing area between the impurities addedto a chip's silicon and the impurity-free silicon substrate. Reducingthe junction capacitance associated with the transistor will enhanceperformance of the device by increasing the operating speed.

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) is a relatively new technology that offerscertain advantages over prior techniques. SOI differs from CMOS byplacing the transistor's silicon junction area on top of an electricalinsulator. The most common insulators employed with this technique areglass and silicon oxide. By placing a thin layer of insulator betweenthe impurities and the silicon substrate, the junction capacitance isgreatly reduced or eliminated, thereby enabling the transistor tooperate faster. As transistor latency drops, the ability to process moreinstructions in a given time increases and overall system performance ispositively impacted.

Though SOI technology offers certain advantages over existing silicontechnology, further size reduction and cost reduction may be desirable.Further, devices having lower leakage currents and stable refresh ratesis also desirable. As can be appreciated, improved manufacturability isoften desirable, as well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Advantages of the invention may become apparent upon reading thefollowing detailed description and upon reference to the drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of a transistorfabricated using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology;

FIG. 2 illustrates a partial schematic illustration of an exemplaryintegrated circuit, incorporating an array of memory cells havingtransistors fabricated in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention; and

FIGS. 3-10 are cross-sectional views illustrating exemplary methods offabricating integrated circuits in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

One or more specific embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed below. In an effort to provide a concise description of theseembodiments, not all features of an actual implementation are describedin the specification. It should be appreciated that in the developmentof any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or designproject, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made toachieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance withsystem-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from oneimplementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that sucha development effort might be complex and time consuming, but wouldnevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, andmanufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of thisdisclosure.

Turning now to the figures, FIG. 1 illustrates a partial cross-sectionalview of a transistor 10 fabricated using silicon-on-insulator (SOI)technology. As previously described, the transistor 10 includes asilicon substrate 12 having an insulator 14, such as an oxide or glass.The gate area (or channel) is formed by disposing a thin layer ofsilicon 16 on top of the insulator 14 and forming the doped regions 18and 20 in the thin layer of silicon 16 such that a channel is formedthrough the thin layer of silicon 16. A thin barrier layer 22, such asan oxide, is disposed over the thin layer of silicon 16 and a conductivelayer 24, such as a metal or polysilicon, is disposed on top of thebarrier layer 22 and patterned to form a conductive path above the gatearea. When current is transmitted to the conductive layer 24, the thinlayer silicon 16 forms a conductive channel between the doped regions 18and 20 through which electricity flows.

As can be appreciated, the interface between the doped regions of atransistor and the underlying layer may have an associated junctioncapacitance. As previously described, a MOS circuit generally uses arelatively large amount of operational time discharging and rechargingthis capacitance before the transistor is able to conduct since there isa relatively large capacitance associate with the junction between thepure silicon and the doped silicon. However, the present SOI transistor10 includes an insulator 14 disposed over the silicon substrate 12.Advantageously, the SOI transistor 10 has a negligible capacitance sincethe insulator 14 provides an efficient barrier. Accordingly, thecapacitance associated with the junction 26 is essentially eliminated byincorporating the insulator layer 14, thus allowing the SOI transistorto operate faster since the charging process is virtually eliminated. Aswill be described further with reference to FIGS. 3-8, the notion ofproviding an insulator 14 to minimize the capacitance at the junctions26 as in the SOI transistor 10, can be implemented with othertechnologies, such as shallow trench isolation (STI) technology, toprovide improved transistor design for incorporation in ultra largescale integration (ULSI) applications of integrated circuits.

Referring to now to FIG. 2, a partial schematic illustration of anexemplary integrated circuit, such as a memory device, incorporating anarray of memory cells having transistors which may be fabricated inaccordance with the techniques described herein is illustrated. Thememory device 28 may be, for example, a dynamic random access memory(DRAM) device. In the exemplary embodiment, the memory device 28includes a number memory cells 30 arranged in a grid pattern comprisinga number of rows and columns. The number of memory cells 30 (andcorresponding rows and columns) may vary depending on systemrequirements and fabrication technology. Each memory cell 30 includes anaccess device and a storage device. In the present exemplary embodiment,the access device comprises a field effect transistor (FET) 32 and thestorage device comprises a capacitor 34. The access device isimplemented to provide controlled access to the storage device. In theexemplary memory cell 30, the FET 32 includes a drain terminal 36 and asource terminal 38. The capacitor 34 is coupled to the source terminal38. The terminal of the capacitor 34 that is not coupled to the FET 32may be coupled to a ground plane.

It should be noted that although the above description depicts theterminal of the access device coupled to the capacitor 34 as the source38 and the other non-gate terminal of the access device as the drain 36,during read and write operations, the FET 32 may be operated such thateach of the terminals 36 and 38 operates at one time or another as asource or a drain. Accordingly, for purposes of further discussion itshould be recognized that whenever a terminal is identified as a sourceor a drain, it is only for convenience and that in fact during operationof the FET 32 either terminal could be a source or a drain depending onthe manner in which the FET 32 is being controlled by the voltagesapplied to the terminals 36, 38 and 40.

As previously described, the memory array is arranged in a series ofrows and columns. To implement the data storage capabilities of a memorycell 30, an electrical charge is placed on the drain 36 of the FET 32via a bit line (BL). By controlling the voltage at the gate 40 via theword line (WL), a voltage potential may be created across the FET 32such that the electrical charge at the drain 36 can flow to thecapacitor 34. As can be appreciated, by storing electrical charge in thecapacitor 34, the charge may be interpreted as a binary data value inthe memory cell 30. For instance, for a single-bit storage device, apositive charge above a known threshold voltage may be interpreted asbinary “1.” If the charge in the capacitor 34 is below the thresholdvalue, a binary value of “0” is said to be stored in the memory cell 30.

The bit lines BL are used to read and write data to and from the memorycells 30. The word lines WL are used to activate the FET 32 to access aparticular row of a memory cell 30. Accordingly, the memory device 28includes an address buffer 42, row decoder 44 and column decoder 46. Therow decoder 44 and column decoder 46 selectively access the memory cells30 in response to address signals that are provided on the address bus48 during read, write and refresh operations. The address signals aretypically provided by an external controller such as a microprocessor oranother type of memory controller. The column decoder 46 may alsoinclude sense amplifiers and input/output circuitry to further enabledata to be read to and from the memory cell 30 via the bit lines BL.

In one exemplary mode of operation, the memory device 28 receives theaddress of a particular memory cell 30 at the address buffer 42. Theaddress buffer 42 identifies one of the word lines WL of the particularmemory cell 30 corresponding to the requested address and passes theaddress to the row decoder 44. The row decoder 44 selectively activatesthe particular word line WL to activate the FET's 32 of each memory cell30 that is connected to the selected word line WL. The column decoder 46selects the bit line (or bit lines) BL of the memory cell 30corresponding to the requested address. For a write operation, datareceived by the input/output circuitry is coupled to the selected bitline (or bit lines) BL and provides for the charge or discharge of thecapacitor 34 of the selected memory cell 30 through the FET 32. Thecharge corresponds to binary data, as previously described. For a readoperation, data stored in the selected memory cell 30, represented bythe charge stored in the capacitor 34, is coupled to the select bit line(or bit lines) BL, amplified by the sense amplifier and a correspondingvoltage level is provided to the input/output circuitry in the columndecoder 46.

As can be appreciated, the memory array described in FIG. 2 implements anumber of FETs 32. In accordance with the present exemplary embodiments,the FETs 32 may be fabricated using STI technology. Shallow trenches maybe formed in a substrate and filled with an oxide. Cavities may beformed in the field oxide and filled with a conductive material, such aspolysilicon, as described further below. In the present exemplaryembodiments, the FET 32 includes vertical junctions that are fabricatedalong the transistor gate edge. As described in detail below, thevertical junctions are formed between the polysilcon and the exposedsilicon at the trench edges such that the heavily doped polysilicon willout-diffuse doping elements into the adjacent single crystal siliconadvantageously forming a diode extension having desirable properties.Because the vertical junctions are in the single crystal siliconsubstrate and not the polysilicon layer, the diode area is confined tothe transistor edge and thus, does not intersect trench walls, thejunction leakage is advantageously low. Further, because the junctionlanding pad (i.e., the polysilicon) is disposed over the isolationoxide, the transistor cell can be compacted while the field isolationtrench width is widened to accommodate the source/drain landing padcontact areas, thereby allowing a better fill margin for the trench.Further, the trench can be made shallower since the diode along thetrench walls does not extend far below the surface of the shallowtrench. As will be appreciated, the exemplary FETs 32 can be compactedfurther using self aligned contact (SAC) processing.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a partial cross sectional view of a substrate50 having STI trenches 52 fabricated therein is illustrated. Thesubstrate 50 may comprise a p-type silicon (Si) substrate, for instance.As described further below, a FET 32 may be fabricated vertically withinthe trench 52. The trenches 52 may be formed by any one of a number ofwet or dry etching techniques, such as plasma etching, ion beam etching,or reactive ion etching (RIE), for example. The trenches 52 may have adepth in the range of about 0.15 microns to about 0.45 microns, forexample. Further, the trenches 52 may have a width in the range ofapproximately 0.025 microns to 0.015 microns, for example.

The structure illustrated in FIG. 3 includes a thin oxide layer 54, suchas silicon dioxide (SiO₂) or oxide nitride oxide (ONO), which may beapplied or grown on the surface of the substrate 50 by wet or dryoxidation of the semiconductor substrate 50, for instance. The oxidelayer 54 may be grown on the surface of the wafer by placing thesubstrate 50 in a heated chamber and exposing the wafer to oxygen gas,as can be appreciated by those skilled in the art. Alternatively, theoxide layer 54 may be deposited over the substrate 50. The oxide layer54 is generally a thin layer that forms the gate oxide of the FET 32, aswill be illustrated further below.

The structure illustrated in FIG. 3 also includes an intermediatenitride layer 56, such as silicon nitride (Si₃N₄), that is depositedonto the oxide layer 54 and patterned, as illustrated in FIG. 3. Thenitride layer 56 may be deposited to protect the underlying materialsduring further processing. The nitride layer may comprise various othercommon insulating materials such as silicon oxide (SiO₂), which may bein combination with the nitride layer 56. The nitride layer 56 may bedeposited by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), for example. Morespecifically, the nitride layer 56 may be disposed using a low pressurechemical vapor deposition (LPCVD).

The techniques for forming the structure illustrated in FIG. 3 may vary.For instance, in one exemplary embodiment, after the trenches 52 areformed in the substrate 50, the oxide layer 54 may be applied to (orgrown on) the surface of the substrate 50, including through the trench52. Alternatively, the oxide layer 54 and the nitride layer 56 may bedisposed over the surface of the substrate 50 before the trenches 52 areformed. Once the oxide layer 54 and the nitride layer 56 are disposed,the trenches 52 may be formed through the nitride layer 56, the oxidelayer 54 and the underlying substrate 50. As can be appreciated, if thetrenches 52 are formed after deposition of the oxide layer 54, the oxidelayer 54 will be removed from the trench 52 during the etch process.Accordingly, a second deposition or growth step may be performed toredeposit or regrow the oxide layer 54 through the trench 52. Once thetrench 52 is formed having an oxide layer 54 disposed therein, thetrenches 52 are filled with an isolation oxide 58, thereby forming thestructure illustrated in FIG. 3. The oxide 58 will provide junctionisolation for the FET 32, as illustrated further below.

Once the trench 52 is filled with the isolation oxide 58, the oxide 58may be patterned such that a shallow cavity 60 is formed along the wallsof the channel as indicated in FIG. 4. It should be understood thatwhile the term “cavity” is used to describe the opening formed in theoxide 58, the term is simply used for clarity such that it is easilydistinguishable from the trench 52. As can be appreciated, the cavity 60may also be described as a trench formed in the oxide 58 that extendsthrough the length of the trench 52. In the present exemplaryembodiment, the isolation oxide 58 may be etched to form an invertedU-shaped cavity, as illustrated in FIG. 4. As will be illustratedfurther below, the exposed edge 62 will form a diode junctions for theFET 32 having a low junction leakage based on its proximity to theisolation oxide 58. As used herein, the “exposed edge 62” refers to theedge being essentially free of any film, especially oxides andhydrocarbons.

Once the isolation oxide 58 is etched to form the cavity 60 to exposethe edge 62, a cleaning process may be implemented to clean the exposededge 62 to eliminate any films, such as hydrocarbon films, that may bepresent. After the cleaning process, a conductive material, such as aninsitu doped polysilicon (i.e., polysilicon having doping levels in therange of approximately 10¹⁶ to 10²² atoms/cm³), amorphous silicon ormicro-crystal silicon, for example, may be deposited in the channel by asuitable deposition process, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD),plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), or photo enhancedCVD, for example. The conductive material may be deposited in adiffusion furnace or using a single wafer tool, for example.

FIG. 5 illustrates the structure formed after deposition of theconductive material, here an N+ doped polysilicon material. Accordingly,the structure illustrated in FIG. 5 includes N+ doped polysilicon 64disposed in the cavity 60. The polysilicon will be patterned to form thesource 36 and drain 38 of the FET 32, as described further below withreference to FIG. 6. Once the polysilicon material 64 is disposed, thestructure may be planarized such that the nitride layer 56 is flush withthe top surface of the polysilicon material 64, as illustrated in FIG.5. The structure may be planarized using chemical mechanicalplanarization (CMP) techniques, for instance.

In an alternate embodiment, the polysilicon material 64 may be disposedconformally within the cavity 60, such that a thin layer of thepolysilicon material 64 is formed therethrough. The remainder of thecavity 60 may be filled with a compound, such as CuSi₂, NiSi₂, TiSi₂,TiN or W₂N, for example. In another embodiment, the polysilicon material64 may be replaced completely with a compound, or with a metal that mayform a compound through a heat treatment. As will be appreciated, byreplacing the polysilicon material 64 with a pure metal, a Schottkybarrier may be formed. In this embodiment, the FET 32 may comprise aSchottky barrier transistor having improved gate control andsub-threshold voltage swings. Further, Schottky barrier transistorsfabricated in accordance with the present embodiments may provideimproved memory cell isolation, reduction in threshold voltage,improvement in drive currents and improved leakage degradation.

After deposition of the conductive material (here the doped polysilicon64) and CMP, the structure is exposed to a heat treatment. By exposingthe heavily doped polysilicon material 64 to a thermal cycle, the dopedpolysilicon material 64 out-diffuses doping elements into the adjacentsingle crystal silicon, thereby forming diode extensions for the FET 32,as indicated by the doped regions 68 illustrated in FIG. 6. The lateraldiffusion of the polysilicon material 64 may be controlled bycontrolling the temperature and the time of the thermal cycle such thatthe depth of the junction is not affected. The exposure time for thethermal cycle is in the range of approximately 20 to 600 seconds and ata temperature in the range of approximately 600° C. to 1050° C. Once theout-diffused doped regions 68 are formed in the silicon, the isolationoxide 58 and the polysilicon material 64 are further etched to form thedrain 36 and the source 38 and indicated in FIG. 6.

In an alternate exemplary embodiment, the polysilicon material 64 may beetched to form a raised source 38A and drain 36A configuration, asillustrated in FIG. 7. As can be appreciated, the raised source 38A anddrain 36A configuration illustrated in FIG. 7 may advantageously providea lower resistance and faster switching speeds for the FET 32. Thosehaving ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that additionalpatterning and etching steps may be implemented to form the alternativestructure having the raised source 38A and drain 36A of FIG. 7. Forinstance to complete processing of the structure including the raisedsource 38A and drain 36A configuration, a dielectric film may bedeposited and patterned to isolate the polysilicon material 64 whichforms the raised source 38A and drain 36A from the polysilicon materialthat will be later deposited to form the polysilicon gate 70(illustrated and described below with reference to FIG. 8).

Returning again to the structure illustrated in FIG. 6, having a source38 and drain 36 patterned flush with the oxide layer 58, furtherfabrication of the FET 32 includes a number of deposition, patterningand removal steps. For instance, after the formation of the source 38and drain 36, the nitride layer 56 may be removed via a chemical etchprocess such that the gate structures and surrounding materials may bedisposed and etched. If the oxide layer 54 is removed during the etchprocess, the oxide layer 54 may then be regrown to provide the gateoxide for the FET 32. During the regrowth of the gate oxide layer 54,the oxide layer 82 is also formed over the polysilicon layer 58 (source38 and drain 36), as illustrated in FIG. 8. Next, the wordlinestructures implemented to form the gate 40 of the FET 32 may befabricated. In one exemplary embodiment, the wordlines comprise apolysilicon gate 70 having a silicide material and a nitride cap, suchas Si₃N₄, disposed thereon, illustrated collectively in FIG. 8 as thecap 72. As can be appreciated, the polysilicon gate 70 may compriseother conductive materials, such as tungsten, to enhance conductivitythrough the polysilicon gate 70. Further, the cap 72 may also comprisevarious common insulating materials such as silicon oxide (SiO₂). Thelayers of the cap 72 may be deposited by chemical vapor deposition(CVD), for example. More specifically, the cap 72 may be disposed usinga low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD).

Once the wordline layers (i.e., oxide 54, polysilicon gate 70 and cap72) are disposed, the wordlines may be patterned and etched by aconventional means. Next, a nitride layer may be disposed and etched toform the nitride spacers 74. After formation of the nitride spacers 74,a number of dielectric layers, such as TEOS and BSPG layers, illustratedcollectively as dielectric layers 76, may be disposed over the wordlinestacks, thereby burying the wordlines. The structure may then beplanarized by chemical mechanical planarization (CMP). Next contactholes are formed through the BPSG layers such that openings to the drain36 and source 38 are formed. Finally, a conductive material, such as apolysilicon plug 80 may be disposed into the holes to provide contactsto the source and drain and metal trace layers (not shown) may be formedon the surface of the dielectric layers 76. The formations of thecontact holes may include multiple etch and/or punch steps. Forinstance, one or more punch steps and/or one or more etch steps, such asa dry etch, may be implemented to etch through the dielectric layers 76to the underlying source 38 and drain 36. Advantageously, the techniquesdescribed herein allow the plugs 80 to be disposed further from thepolysilicon gate 70 since the width of the source 38 and drain 36 may beincreased. By moving the plugs 80 further from the gate 70, shortingbetween the plugs 80 and the gate 70 may be reduced.

For the raised source/drain configuration illustrated in FIG. 7,slightly different processing steps may be implemented. In oneembodiment, after formation of the raised source 38A and drain 36A, thenitride layer 56 may be removed via a chemical etch process. Further,the oxide 54 is etched. Next, a dielectric material, such as an oxide ora nitride or high k materials, may be deposited and patterned tosurround the raised source 38A and drain 36A. Next, the polysilicon gate70 (FIG. 8) may be deposited and planarized by a CMP process, forexample. Finally, a silicide material and nitride cap may be depositedover the polysilicon gate 70, as previously described.

As can be appreciated, to provide electrical contact from the underlyingwordlines, contact holes (not shown) may also be formed to theunderlying wordline. The contact holes may be filled with a conductivematerial, such as tungsten, to provide a conductive path from the metaltraces to the polysilicon gate 70 (i.e., wordline gate 40 in FIG. 2.

The application of the present techniques of forming cavities within anoxide disposed in a trench may also be implemented to form connectionshaving extended vertical contact regions. Referring briefly to FIG. 4,the cavity 60 has been formed in the P-type silicon substrate 50. Toprovide connections along the exposed edge 62, a P+ doped polysiliconmay be deposited into the cavity 60, as opposed to the N+ dopedpolysilicon material 64 implemented to form the transistor junctions, asdescribed above. Further, in some applications, it may be desirable toform connections on one side of the trench 52 (FIG. 3) and to formdiode/transistor junctions on the opposite side of the trench 52. Theformation of such structures is described briefly with reference toFIGS. 9 and 10, below.

As will be appreciated, to facilitate the formation of two structures(i.e, connections and diode/transistor junctions) within a single trench52, separate cavities may be formed in the isolation oxide and differentdopants may be deposited on each side. Referring to FIG. 9, a firstcavity 60A is formed in the isolation oxide 58 along one edge of thetrench 52. It should be noted that to provide isolation between thecavity 60A and the cavity that will be formed later on the opposite sideof the trench 52, the isolation oxide 58 may be patterned and etchedsuch that it is flush with the top surface of the nitride layer 56, asillustrated in FIG. 9. In the present exemplary embodiment, afterformation of the first cavity 60A, an N+ polysilicon material, such asphosphorus, may be disposed into the cavity 60A. After deposition of theN+ polysilicon material into the cavity 60A, a similar set of steps maybe implemented and a polysilicon material heavily doped with a p-typematerial, such as boron, may be deposited in similar cavities formed onthe opposite side of the trench 52.

FIG. 10 illustrates the structure formed after deposition of bothpolysilicon materials. Accordingly, the structure illustrated in FIG. 10includes n-doped polysilicon 64A disposed in a cavity 60A formed on oneside of the trench 52 and a p-doped polysilicon 64B disposed in a cavity60B formed on the other side of the trench 52. By exposing the dopedpolysilicon materials 64A and 64B to a thermal cycle, the dopedpolysilicon materials 64A and 64B will out-diffuse doping elements intothe adjacent single crystal silicon, thereby forming either a diodeextensions, as with polysilicon material 64A or a connection, as withpolysilicon material 64B. Once each of the polysilicon materials 64A and64B are disposed, the structure may be planarized such that the nitridelayer 56 is flush with the top surface of the polysilicon materials 64Aand 64B, as previously described with reference to FIG. 5. As will beappreciated, depending on the application, the connections and diodeextensions may be patterned and further fabricated to provide any of anumber of desirable structures having improved junctions.

While the invention may be susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way ofexample in the drawings and have been described in detail herein.However, it should be understood that the invention is not intended tobe limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention isto cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the followingappended claims.

1. A device comprising: a substrate having a plurality of trenchesformed therein; an isolation oxide disposed within each of the pluralityof trenches, the isolation oxide comprising cavities formed thereinalong the junction between the substrate and the isolation oxide; aconductive material disposed in each of the cavities; a plurality ofdoped regions in the substrate arranged directly adjacent to theconductive material; and a wordline stack disposed directly over theplurality of doped regions in the substrate.
 2. The device, as set forthin claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of cavities comprises a depthin the range of approximately 300 angstroms to 1500 angstroms.
 3. Thedevice, as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality ofcavities comprises an aspect ratio of less than or equal toapproximately 0.5 to
 10. 4. The device, as set forth in claim 1, whereineach of the plurality of cavities comprises an aspect ratio of less thanor equal to approximately 1 to
 3. 5. The device, as set forth in claim1, wherein the wordline stack comprises a polysilicon layer disposedover a field oxide layer.
 6. The device, as set forth in claim 1,wherein the conductive material is disposed such that a portion of theconductive material is directly adjacent to a portion of the wordlinestack.
 7. The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the conductivematerial comprises polysilicon.
 8. The device, as set forth in claim 1,wherein the conductive material comprises a metal.
 9. The device, as setforth in claim 1, wherein the conductive material comprises a firstlayer comprising polysilicon and a second layer comprising metal. 10.The device, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the isolation oxidecomprises: a first cavity having a first type of conductive materialdisposed therein; and a second cavity having a second type of conductivematerial disposed therein, wherein the second type is different than thefirst type.
 11. A device comprising: a substrate having a trench formedtherein, wherein the trench comprises a first sidewall and a secondsidewall; an isolation oxide disposed within the trench, the isolationoxide having each of a first cavity and a second cavity formed therein,wherein the first cavity is formed along the first sidewall, and whereinthe second cavity is formed along the second sidewall; a conductivematerial disposed in each of the first cavity and the second cavity; afirst doped region along the first sidewall of the trench; a seconddoped region along the second sidewall of the trench; and a wordlinestack disposed directly over the first doped region.
 12. The device, asset forth in claim 11, wherein each of the first cavity and the secondcavity comprises a depth in the range of approximately 300 angstroms to1500 angstroms.
 13. The device, as set forth in claim 11, wherein theconductive material comprises a heavily doped polysilicon.
 14. Thedevice, as set forth in claim 11, wherein the conductive materialcomprises a first type of conductive material disposed in the firstcavity and a second type of conductive material disposed in the secondcavity.
 15. A device comprising: a substrate comprising a plurality oftrenches formed therein, wherein a wordline stack is formed above andbetween each of the plurality of trenches; an oxide layer disposed onthe surface of the substrate and in each of the plurality of trenches;an isolation oxide disposed in each of the plurality of trenches andover the oxide layer; and a doped polysilicon material disposed in acavity formed in the isolation oxide and the oxide layer.
 16. Thedevice, as set forth in claim 15, wherein the doped polysilicon materialis disposed in each of a plurality of cavities formed in the isolationoxide and the oxide layer.
 17. The device, as set forth in claim 15comprising a plurality of doped region in the substrate arrangeddirection adjacent the doped polysilicon.